Boy Scouts Distinguished Citizen Award presented to Joe Hudson

The Boy Scouts of America Del-Mar-Va Council, Sussex County, presented its Distinguished Citizen Award to Joseph Hudson Nov. 14 at the Rehoboth Beach Country Club. Several local business leaders, individuals and businesses sponsored this annual event. Money raised will help support many scouting programs like camp scholarships and recruitment efforts.

Hudson is an aviator, farmer and businessman and spent 20 years as a member of the Beebe Medical Center board of directors, 10 of those as chairman of the board. Hudson confessed he was never a Boy Scout. He remembered, as a young boy, watching some scouts building a cabin in the woods near Cool Spring. "I was interested in scouting, but I didn’t want to walk all the way to Lewes for the meetings." Hudson said he lived out in the country and was one of 12 children in a family that lived in a house without plumbing or a car.

After a singing of Happy Birthday for Hudson, led by Master of Ceremonies Dennis Forney, Jason Pierce, Del-Mar-Va Council executive director, gave a scouting update. Pierce spoke about the difference scouting makes in young people's lives. He mentioned one of the 1,000 Sussex County scouts, Robert Viera of Greenwood, who received the Boy Scouts' Heroism Award for taking getting two toddlers home after he found them wandering in a field by themselves out in the cold. Pierce went on to say there would be 20 new Eagle Scouts this year in Sussex County - scouting's highest rank - and 800 merit badges earned by Sussex County Boy Scouts.

Eagle Scout Dylan Brown also spoke at the celebration. Brown is a distinguished student and athlete in the 10th grade at Cape Henlopen High School. He spoke about the many adventure camps he has attended, from canoe trips in the Boundary Waters of Canada to hikes in the Cimarron Mountains of New Mexico. “Being a part of scouting and all that it represents has played an important part of my life. I believe it has made me the person I am today,” said Brown.

Hudson said he and his son, Craig, became involved with the local Boy Scouts a few years ago when they sought their help in planting 14,000 trees on the grounds of their Villages of Five Points project. "I was impressed with their enthusiasm and how hard they worked," said Hudson. He mentioned that his boyhood friend and high school classmate Ted Freeman, one of the nation's first astronauts, embodied many of the virtues espoused by scouting.

"Ted studied hard, graduated from near the top of his class at the Naval Academy and eventually opted to join the Air Force.  He had a distinguished career as a fighter pilot, completed his masters degree in engineering at University of Michigan and put himself in position to be accepted as a member of the nation's first group of designated astronauts."

Hudson said Freeman, unfortunately, also became the first astronaut to die in the line of duty when the fighter jet he was test piloting crashed in Texas. A goose sucked into one of the jet's engines caused problems that Freeman worked to control.

"The men on the radio urged Ted to eject, but he said he had to wait until he was clear of a residential area where he suspected people would be injured if the jet went down without him at the controls," said Hudson.  "Ted finally did eject in an open area, but it was too late.  His parachute never had time to open."

Hudson closed his comments with advice for those in attendance: “All of you young people, get your kids into the scouts as soon as they’re old enough.  It is a great experience where they will learn to respect others and accomplish something.”

After the banquet, Joe's good friend Charles Howard made a quick observation: "Isn't that just like Joe Hudson? Take an event designed to honor all the selfless things he has done and turn it around to honor someone else."